Corpbanca Put On Watch Negative

Fitch has placed Corpbanca’s foreign and local currency long-term issuer default ratings (IDR) on watch negative as a result of its recent Banco Santander Colombia acquisition announcement. The 95% stake is expected to be positive with respect to marketshare but “will place Corpbanca’s capitalization under pressure while its capacity to regenerate capital from earnings and after dividend payments will be challenging,” says Fitch. The agency adds that following the $1.15bn acquisition’s completion, the ratings will be downgraded.